COLOMBO: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit here, Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe has stoked a controversy sug-gesting that Indian fisher-men may be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters.
Alleging that Indian fishermen were taking away the livelihood of Northern Lanka fishermen, he told Tamil Thanthi TV that, “If someone tries to break into my house, I can shoot. If he gets killed…Law allows me to do that.” Talking about the fishermen issue, he said, “As far as I’m concerned, I have very strong lines.
This is our waters… Fishermen of Jaffna should be allowed to fish. We stopped them from fishing , that’s why the Indian fisher-men came in, they are willing to have a deal…Let’s have a reasonable deal. But not at the expense of the income of the Northern Fisher-men…No.”
“India and Sri Lanka have been approaching this as a humanitarian matter which is an emotional issue. This is not an issue that can be addressed immediately with quick-fix solutions but we will work on it as friends and maritime neighbours,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.
We hope to resolve this in a peaceful and friendly manner,” he said ahead of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s talks here with the Lankan leadership.
Swaraj is here on a two-day trip to set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country, the first bilateral tour by an Indian PM in over 25 years.
Asked about allegations of Sri Lankan Navy shooting fishermen with around 600 Indians killed in the last many years, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said there has been no such incident recently with the last one being in 2011. “Part of that earlier was during the time of (Lankan civil) war, they felt some of them actually were involved in supplying of arms,” Wickramasinghe said.
Wickramasinghe also questioned the alleged illegal fishing by Indian fishermen in Sri lankan waters, saying, “Why are you coming into our waters? Why are you fishing in our waters? Stay on the Indian side…There will be no issue…No one will shoot anyone else,” he said. “You stay on the Indian side, Let our fishermen stay on the Sri Lankan side… Otherwise don’t make accusations of Human rights violation by the Navy.
Swaraj on Friday had called on Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, who assured her that his government is committed to strengthening ties with India.
Ahead of Modi’s visit, PM Ranil Wickramasinghe has stoked a controversy suggesting that Indian fishermen may be shot if they intruded into Sri Lankan waters.
The remarks by Sri Lankan prime minister on the fishermen issue will also be raised by external affairs minister Swaraj during her meeting with her Lankan counterpart Mangala Sama-raweera, ministry of external affairs sources said.
The external affairs minister will raise the fishermen issue during her talks with her Lankan counterpart and Prime Minister Wickramasinghe, they said.
There have been several cases of arrest and abduc-tion of Indian fishermen in the last month.
Sri Lankan fishermen have been complaining that since the advent of new government, the number of Indian fishermen breaching the country’s waters for illegal fishing has been increasing.
As many as 86 Indian fishermen were arrested and their 10 fishing boats seized by the Sri Lanka navy for allegedly poaching in the country’s waters last month. (PTI)
